The introduction of a cost cap into Formula 1 for the 2021 season has left Haas in a “different place” according to technical director Simone Resta.
Haas has traditionally been one of the smaller operations on the F1 grid, leveraging its relationships with Ferrari and Dallara when it comes to the design of its cars.
That has helped to keep costs and headcount down, a point which in some regards has afforded the team an advantage in recent years.
The introduction of a cost cap for 2021 has forced a number of the leading teams to downsize.
Where once they would simply spend their way out of a problem, now they are forced to find efficiencies.
It’s not quite an even playing field with the smaller teams, facilities and staff are still significant differentiators, but it’s seen things move back towards operations like Haas.
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“If you take, let’s say, as a reference, the Haas team, in 2021, clearly the team was operating under the cost cap,” Simone Resta, the team’s technical director.
“I wouldn’t say it was transparent, but kind of transparent; okay, there is a little bit of bureaucracy to manage all the elements to adhere to the financial regulations, traditional work [required by] the teams to do that.
“But from a technical point of view, let’s say the implication was small, in a way that, because we were running under the budget cap.
“Now, in a few years’ time, basically the cost cap has come down by some steps and on the other hand, thanks to the combination of the work done on the track, so that that progressive improvement of performance, the drivers’ lineup that has been evolving, the sponsors that have been growing, the sponsorship needs of the team etcetera, so now we’re in a different place.
“We are very close to, if not on the cap.
“I suppose, you can say in a way that is an opportunity for the team,” he added.
“Because when you are coming from that side of the, you know, [up] to the cap, basically, to reach that point is not limiting yourself.
“On the other end, from larger organisations probably coming from the other side has more limitations.
“I think all in all, for [Haas], it has been an opportunity. Yeah, I can see there’s an opportunity.”
The introduction of the cost cap has been largely credited with helping drive up the value of teams in recent years.
That has seen Alpine sell a stake to investors for €200 million, a deal which valued the embattled Enstone operation at $900 million.
It means not only are smaller teams, like Haas, able to be more competitive, but the underlying business is more stable.
Gene Haas is sitting on a potential asset, a stark contrast to the financial liability F1 organisations once proved.
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